Sebastian Vettel scripted history at the Italian Grand Prix in 2008. At the age of 21 years and 73 days, he became the youngest-ever driver to win a major Formula 1 race. It happened to be Toro Rosso's maiden win in the circuit. Despite wet conditions affecting the quality of the race, Vettel showed incredible adaptability and made waves in the driving circuit.
The 53-lap race on a boot-shaped track was challenging as rain made the lives of the drivers difficult. However, Sebastian Vettel was incredible at a very young age. Vettel started the race in the second position and held on to the lead over Heikki Kovalainen who was in the third position. In wet conditions, Vettel turned out to be good and impressed the fans and experts.
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"One of the greatest things I've EVER seen in Grand Prix racing" 🥹
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 27, 2024
The start of something very special... Sebastian Vettel became the then-youngest ever race winner with victory for Toro Rosso in 2008 🇮🇹#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/x6s6dKcCrD
As the track started to dry, Sebastian claimed a massive lead over his opponents. McLaren and BMW Sauber finished in the second and third positions respectively. Despite using a 2007-spec engine, Vettel overcame his opponents in style which made his win even more special. Vettel became the second German since Michael Schumacher to win a Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel's record was broken by Max Verstappen
The record of Sebastian stayed intact for eight years. In the Spanish Grand Prix 2016, Max Verstappen arrived at the scene and became the youngest-ever driver to win a Formula 1 race at the age of just 18 years and 228 days. After Vettel's win in Italy, Toro Rosso did not win a race for the next 11 years. They only won at the German GP in 2019 and followed it up with an Italian GP win in 2020.
Vettel was also the youngest driver back then to take a pole position. He finished the race with an impressive timing of 1 hour 37 minutes and 555 seconds. Vettel's win was praised by the star Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton who said "With all that pressure it is easier to make mistakes, and he obviously didn't, so congratulations to him. He did a good job."